Rotary-cylinder gas-engine.



R. S.' MOORE.

ROTARY CYLINDER GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8, 1913.

\ Patented A111114, 1914.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET z.

Wmme@ To allavlwm it may concern.:

-UMTED STATES PAEN ROBERT s. MOORE, or WASHINGTON,

Moron COMPANY,

DELAWARE.

Be it known that I, ROBERT S. Moolen, a

A- citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia,

have inventedcertain new anduseful Im-l provements inI Rotary-Cylinder Gas-Engines, of. which the following isl a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the iigures ofvreference vmarked thereon..l

The invention relates to new anduseful improvements' in rotary engines and more particularly to .engines of this type wherein there is -a' plurality of cylinders mounted. on

a rotating casing. v L 1 Anl object .of theinvention toprovide a rotary gas enginehavin-g al1-intake port for each cylinder which is normally open during the period of intake and free from. .valves so as to affordan unobstructed -passage for admitting the fuel orcombustion gases, with a rotary member-'which lis comnmn to :all of the 'cylinders'.a'nd which` operates toi closey the intake ports at all. times'during the rotation'` of .the cylinders except substantially during the period of intake Afor the respec.

illustration, one embodimentv of the' invention, Figure l is a viewpartly in section and partly in side elevation showing an engine having my improvements applied thereto.

, Fig. 2'is a similar view showing an end view of the engine casing, parts being broken away to show the interior of the cylinders..

Fig. 3is adetail in plan ofthe cap plate.

Fig. 4 is a detail in plan of thecontrolling disk or cover for the intake ports, also showingthe cam for operating the exhaust valves. Fig.I 5 is a detail showing arear view of the cover plate for the controlling disk. y

The invention consists, generally, ink providing a rotating casing'on which is mounted a plurality of cylinders. This casing is mounted to rotate about a fixed supporting shaft which carries a crank to which the' piston rods for the respective cylindersare attached.; y `Each cylinder is providedwith an intake port located adjacent the inner end of the strokeof the piston so that said intake portl is uncovered by the piston. 'This intake portf'at the 'cylinder is entirely free of .any valves or controlling devices. Thein- Specification of Letters Patent.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR T0 G-YRO OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBIA, A CORPORATION' OF ROTARY-CYLINDER GAS-ENGINE.

Patented Apr. 14, 1914.

.te take port is supplied with fuel or combustion gases from a fuel chamber which according to the present embodimentof the invention 1s 'the crank casing. A rotating member opcrates to cover-or close the passages leading from the intake ports to they crank casing except during the period of intake for the 'Application :filed November 8, 1913. Serial No. 799,948. aij m m i 1E-fry ff-a. f. L Flemmish respective cylinders. In otherwords2v the passage leading from each cylinder to the c rank casmg 1s uncovered so that it is entirely free from obstruction of any character just prior to the time when ,the piston uncovers -the port of that particular cylinder so that the fuel or combustion gases may be drawn quickly into the cylinder by reason,

of the vacuum created in the cylinder during the inst-roke of the piston. 4

`Referring more in detail tothe drawings, 1n Fig. 1, I have shown a fixed shaft l on which is mounted a rotating sleeve 2 carrying a crank casing 3. The shaft l is providedv with a crank 4a. The crank as herein shown carries three cylinders 4, 5 and 6. In each cylinder there lis a piston 7 to which 1s connected a piston rod 8. The piston rods in' the various cylinders are connected ,to the crank 4 and as the pistons move back and yforth `in the cylinders, said cylinders and the. casmg'are caused to rotate about said crank. The crank casing and the conf.

nection with the cylinders forms a substantially 4closed chamber from which the fuel or combustion gases are fed to the engine cylinders. v

Each cylinder is provided with an exhaust valve 8 which operates to close the exhaust port in the oute'r end of the cylinder. This exhaust valve is preferably connected to a lever 9 which is fulcrumed at 10 to a bracket carried by the engine cylinder, and the lever '3 isp-in turn pivoted to a rod 11 connected at ne 4 ther end to a shoe 12 adapted to engage cam projections 13 and 14 on the sleeve 15. This sleeve is rotatively mounted so as to turn independent of the crank casing and' is operated byJ a suitable differential mechanism which turns the sleevevso as to bring .about an opening and closing of the exhaust valve in proper timing for the usual four cycle engine. i t

Each cylinder is providedv with'an intake port 16. A pipe 17 leads from each intake port to thc crank casing which forms as herein shown the `fuel chamber. A cap plate 1S is fixed to the crank casing and is formed with three equally spaced openings 19. The

crank casing is also provided with openingsx 2O registering with the openings 19. The sleeve is formed with a disk 21 which rests against the cap lplate 18.l

'plate 22 is fixed to the engine'casing and said cover overlaps the disk 21 and isprovided with three openings -23, which are arranged in line with the openings 19 and 20. The pipes 17 areixed to the cover 22 so as to register with the openings 23. Except for the disk 21, which is located between the cover and the cap plate 18, there is a free y unobstructed passage leading from-the crank ycasing through the openings 20 and 19 and.

theplpes 17 to each cylinder. The disk 21 is formed with two elongated openings 24 and 25 which are diametrically opposite eachother and which are located between the camsl and 14 which actuate the ex-I haustvalves. These elongated openings 24 and 25 are caused -to registerat-certain times and one after the other with certain ofthe openings 19and 23. When either of these openings 24 or 25 are in register with the openings 19, 20 and 23, then there is a free passage from the crank casing through l `uncovers the intake passage there will be a i free unobstructed passage for the inrushing of the fuel or the combustion gases. At this time, the passages -leading to the other cylinders are closed or cut ofi' byV thedisk 21.

The operation of my improved engine is as follows starting with the cylindersin the positionA shown in Fig. 2 and considering the.'engine as rotating in the direction of thearrow. The cylinder 4 has just completed the exhaust and the exhaust valve is still open by reason of the fa'ct that the cam is still in engagement with the shoe 12 which opens the exhaust valve. During the rst part of the inward stroke ofthe piston 'air is drawn into the cylinder after which the cam 13 passes from underneath the shoe '12 as the engine casing is rotatinglat a greater speed than the sleeve carrying the cam 13. -In a three cylinder engine, such as shown in the drawings, the engine lcasing will rotate three times for every two revolutions of the cam sleeve 13. Asl soon as the exhaust valve closes a further inward movement of the piston will create a vacuum in A cover the cylinder. The pipe 17 is carried by the engine casing and the openings in the cover plate and cap are. gradually overcoming the elongated opening 24 in the shutter and when thel cylinder 4 reaches the osition where the piston .uncovers the intalie port' 16, said elongated opening 24 is brought into register with the openings 23, 20 and 19. This provides a free. unobstructed passage between the engine casing and the cylinder so that as soon as the piston uncovers said intake port the fuel or combustiony gases will be drawn with. force into the cylinder by 'the vacuum created therein. The lelongated opening 24 remains in register with said openings preferably untily after the piston begins its outward stroke for compression. The-cylinder 5 has justbeen tired and the piston is practicall at the endof the expansion stroke. l hen the piston uncovers the intake lportof this cylinder, the shutter is in such position as to close the passage between the pipe tzonnected with said cylinder and the engine casing. This prevents any chance of a s ark or of the heated gases passing from t e cylinder into the engine casing and causing back tiring.

By my construction as above described, the elongated openings 24. have a fixed relation to the operating cams for t-he exhaust valves and are, therefore, always maintained in proper timed relation to the operation of the exhaust valves. I may, if l desired, mount the shutter so that it may be shifted relative to its actuating sleeve so as to partly close the passage leading fromthe intake po-rt for throttling the engine and for reducing speed.

`Vhile I have shown my improved intake f 'control as applied to three cylinder engines,

it will be understood that the same maybe used in connection with the mult-i-ple cylinder engine having any desired number of cylinders.

It willbe understood that minor changes in the details of constructionand arrangement of parts' may be made Withoutdeparting from the spirit ofthe inventionl as set forth in the appended claims.

.Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A rotary gas engine including a plurality of cylinders, a piston for each cylinder, an intake port for each cylinder adapted lto be uncovered by the piston during the intake period, means forming a passage connecting theintakefport of each cylinder with a supply chamber, a rotating member for closing the passages leading to the intake ports, said rotating member having means for uncovering one of said passages at a time, and means for rotating said member in the same direction as the cylinders and at a differential speed relative thereto, whereby said intake passages arey uncovered substantially during the period of intake for the respective cylinder.

2. A rotary engine including a plurality of cylinders, 'a piston for each cylinder, an intake port for each cylinder adapted to be uncovered by the piston during the intake period, means forming a passage connecting the intake port of each cylinderfwith a supply chamber, a rotating member located adjacent the supply chamber and away from the cylinders for closing the passages leading to the intake ports, said rotating member having means for uncovering one of said passages at a time, and means for rotating said member inl the same direction as' the cylinders and' at a differential speed relative thereto, whereby from the casing to the intake ports, said sages yleading to the pipes,

said intake passages are uncovered substantially during the pelnember having means for uncovering one of said passages at a time and substantially during the period of intake for the cylinders.

4. A gas engine including in combination a rotary casing, a plurality of cylinders carried thereby, an intake port for each cylin der adapted to be uncovered by the piston, a pipe leading from each intake port to the casing, a rotating disk for normally closing the passage from the casing to. the pipes, said disk having elongated openings therein adapted to register in turn with the pasand means for giving said disk ,a differential movement relative to the cylinders whereby the passage leading to each cylinder will be uncovered at every other revolutionof the casing and substantially during the intake period for the cylinder.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signa-- ture, in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT S. MOORE. Witnesses:

E. G. MASON, WM. F. Dormi.

c Copies of this patent mat7 be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washingtonpl?. C. 

